Pros and cons about GW2

Hi all,

So recently i benn thinking about testing GW2, i have read some reviews but now i like to hear the opinions from the gamers.
What do you think are the pros and the cons of GW2 in comparison with other MMOS?

Cons:
- Limited vanity & cosmetic options (same type to same type reskins only, cosmetic clothes only usable out of combat)
- Twitch based combat might not be for everyone (very much an action game first, MMORPG second)
- Limited UI and customization options (can't move abilities on the hotbar, for example)

The game doesn't really have a lot of "cons", so to speak. It is more likely one isn't simply into the type of game GW2 sets out to be.

For example, none of the 5 Guild Wars games to date have an endgame or instanced raiding. None at all. For those players interested in that style of gameplay primarily, GW2 might not be the best choice. Though objectively this is neither a flaw or con-- just a different style of game.

This follows for many of GW2's quirks. Such as the inability to move abilities on the hotbar around and so forth. Because one might have the expectation of those minor features from other games. GW2 just does a lot of atypical stuff.

If we get to the nitty gritty of it all, that could be only true con of the game; it's just different enough in some areas to be esoteric to players of traditional MMORPGs [Everquest, FF11] and new era MMOs [World of Warcraft, Tera].

Though I would say it's just a matter of getting used to not having A->B->C questing or 40 abilities on your hotbar. Which can't be shown to be in conflict with other play systems in GW2. So the concern or hindrance is merely personal player to player.

Not really a good question, since it goes too easily to game vs game (and those are not allowed). I think the fact that Guild Wars 2 won in every category it was nominated in GameBreaker end-of-2012 awards tells something.http://www.gamebreaker.tv/video-game...r-awards-show/

There are plenty or reviews to be found on google. I ofc like the game and play it daily basis. Here are some fan-made trailers

@Fencers: Thanks for the info! Basically all i can do is just try it out to see if this kind of diferent MMO gameplay fits my taste.

This might be the key check in the "pro" column I forgot. Guild Wars 2 is really low risk. It's just a 1 time buy for $60 [sometimes cheaper on sale] and at a minimum offers 60 - 100 hours of gameplay should you enjoy the game enough. Obviously one can play the game in perpetuity if they wish.

In terms of value, GW2 is no worse than any number of single player games one might routinely buy off Steam or whatever.

I would like to 2nd that guild wars is extremely casual friendly. I've been doing midterms this week and despite studying into the late hours of the night I still managed to accomplish significant things in the game.
Also:
Everything Gives Exp - which means that if you don't want combat all the time you can go explore and earn experience, or even go back to town and craft.
Moderate Community - It might just be luck but overall positive interactions, and as mentioned everything is cooperative so you are always happy to see other players.
Jumping Puzzles - Some of them aren't complex, but its fun at times to see a really high vista point and start looking around at the walls and rubble and say to yourself, "How do I get up there?"
Most Npcs are voiced. Becoming standard nowdays, but they didn't need to do it.
Content can be quite difficult.
Gear comes from many different sources instead of a top raid.
Pvp levels and gear are normalized so that players should be on mostly equal footing.

Oh Con - Since there is no subscription fee, many features are unlocked with a currency called gems. This includes additional bank slots, more character slots, the final bag slot. Overall it's not too bad of a con as you can trade real currency or the gold currency in game for gems and thus can unlock it all with play hours invested, but it is a minor annoyance none-the-less.

Yeah, the part when you just pay one time give the game a great boost. What i don't completely understand is what Exodeus says about the endgame content... There is really nothing to do when you reach the endgame?

Originally Posted by welcome2life

I would like to 2nd that guild wars is extremely casual friendly. I've been doing midterms this week and despite studying into the late hours of the night I still managed to accomplish significant things in the game.

That's a big +1 for me. Work and college reduce my free time to just a few hours a day, sometimes i can't play every day... So this + only one pay and no monthly fee, makes this game really interesting.

Yeah, the part when you just pay one time give the game a great boost. What i don't completely understand is what Exodeus says about the endgame content... There is really nothing to do when you reach the endgame?

It's a very different model than most games. When it lanuched, there was arugably 'nothing' to do at 'end game', because the whole game is the end game.

It doesn't have traditional dungeons, raiding, etc. There are gear sets to get that are mostly cosmetic and not such a huge advantage statistically. They have recently added some scaling dungeons that give some form of linear dungeon progression, but again it is vastly different than what you are used to in other MMOs.

For a game with no subscription, it is worth it just to level one character and experience the game. Everything else you get going forward is just a plus.

Yeah, the part when you just pay one time give the game a great boost. What i don't completely understand is what Exodeus says about the endgame content... There is really nothing to do when you reach the endgame?

This means the game doesn't change when you are lvl80... there is no raids that you can not participate because you do not have high enough ilvl. There are dungeons that are for lvl80, but those are not "gated" behind gear intervals aka tiers. When you are lvl80 you can an you should do same things that you did while leveling.
- run World vs world (this is week long server vs server pvp battle, place is similar to being pvp server, huge maps. It is all about controlling and defending keeps and ofc killing other players. There is also pvp jumping puzzles. XD)
- run PvE events
- gather materials, craft
- gather armor&weapon skins with karma(pve token system) or with dungeon tokens or craft skins
- run stuctured pvp (here you are always boosted to max level. You can enter to this at lvl2 after tutorial. You can select pvp gear(it is free) & skills in pvp lobby before entering combat. sPvP gives you tokens for armor skins to show up, you can not get power with token because everyoen gets same gear)
- explore the world, do jumping puzzles, anything and everything, whole world is open to you when you are at lvl80

I am leveling my third toon and I still haven't seen all the places in the world and Anets keeps adding more.

Edit: here is my very noob non-max level mesmer in world vs world. Just to show keeps and siege and stuff ^_^

Yeah, the part when you just pay one time give the game a great boost. What i don't completely understand is what Exodeus says about the endgame content... There is really nothing to do when you reach the endgame?

You don't reach "endgame" in Guild Wars 2. Because there is none.

What one can do is reach max level. In which case the game is not bimodal.

You will do the same types of activities at level 80 as you did at level 2, 20, 34, 59, 66 and 77. Why? Because ideally you just enjoy the experience of playing for it's own sake.

That is the crux of the entire franchise; to play for the simple enjoyment of the game. Nothing more.

Yeah, the part when you just pay one time give the game a great boost. What i don't completely understand is what Exodeus says about the endgame content... There is really nothing to do when you reach the endgame?

There is no content that is gated by ilvl. There are only level gates, you cannot enter a level 80 dungeon if you are level 30 for instance. However there is downscaling so ALL content stays relevant.

The only gear gate that exists right now is higher level Fractals where you need agony resist gear, but you can go pretty far into Fractals without it.

There is TONS to do at 80, I've been 80 since about 3 weeks after launch.

I cannot stress enough about the positive, friendly community due to the design choices the devs made. You see people constantly calling out in map chat about events or rich nodes - there is no kill stealing or node stealing, everyone that participates gets loot, everyone that can farm that resource can.

Sick of battlegrounds where people yell out "Fail! Just let them win!"? You don't see any of that mess here, the server communities are strong and work together to complete the objectives. It's really refreshing

Cons:
- Limited vanity & cosmetic options (same type to same type reskins only, cosmetic clothes only usable out of combat)
- Twitch based combat might not be for everyone (very much an action game first, MMORPG second)
- Limited UI and customization options (can't move abilities on the hotbar, for example)

The game doesn't really have a lot of "cons", so to speak. It is more likely one isn't simply into the type of game GW2 sets out to be.
For example, none of the 5 Guild Wars games to date have an endgame or instanced raiding. None at all. For those players interested in that style of gameplay primarily, GW2 might not be the best choice. Though objectively this is neither a flaw or con-- just a different style of game.

This follows for many of GW2's quirks. Such as the inability to move abilities on the hotbar around and so forth. Because one might have the expectation of those minor features from other games. GW2 just does a lot of atypical stuff.

If we get to the nitty gritty of it all, that could be only true con of the game; it's just different enough in some areas to be esoteric to players of traditional MMORPGs [Everquest, FF11] and new era MMOs [World of Warcraft, Tera].

Though I would say it's just a matter of getting used to not having A->B->C questing or 40 abilities on your hotbar. Which can't be shown to be in conflict with other play systems in GW2. So the concern or hindrance is merely personal player to player.

There was an end-game, so to speak, in GW1. It was called Underworld, Fissure of Woe, The Deep, Urgoz's Warren, Domain of Anguish, and all the Eye of the North dungeons. Those were most definitely for lvl 20 toons who had to know what to do and have some skill in order to complete them (especially at first). Just because it didn't have the traditional form of raiding like WoW or Rift, doesn't mean it didn't have a true end-game. It did, just slightly different.

The reasons listed by Fencer are the reasons I stopped playing Guild Wars 2.

There is no end game. As much as I admire and respect GW2 for its open gameplay and new take on normalizing gear instead of making the game a grind, I have absolutely no incentive to continue playing if i have no greater goals to strive for. Cosmetic items can only take me so far, and I'm not always looking to 'play for playing sake'. I feel progress is the main reason why I play, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.

It's the reason I dropped Diablo 3 after hitting Inferno (before they implemented Monster Power and paragon levels, I still haven't gone back). I went into GW2 knowing about the end game (or lack thereof) but I still got it because most of my WoW guild stopped playing to cross over, mainly due to lack of time to raid and GW2 being more of a casual MMO. Even knowing and accepting what type of game this is, in practice I still feel like it's lacking something to keep me playing.

So far, the only reason I log on is to see what friends are doing and to camp-spawn the world bosses, which I like the epic feel of.

The thing I don't understand about GW2 is why they don't focus a little bit more on vanity/cosmetic gear I don't mean town clothes but regular gear there is something that would have alot of people chasing round tyria if there were more nice sets to be found and also something many would happily spend gems on (including myself) if there actually were any in the gemstore that made sense, it's extremely limited as it is.